This is a YouTube interview (Josh Trent with Alex, a former cannabis CEO) in which Alex explains why he left the large-scale cannabis business—calling cannabis a crutch and "a bit of a scam" for sapping ambition—and describes how CBD products underperformed due to low bioavailability. After a shareholder told him to "heal your gut," Alex studied gut health and functional fungi, began a protocol (reishi, cordyceps, turkey tail, chaga, lion's mane) plus microdosing psilocybin, and reports rapid resolution of brain fog, fatigue, and improved cognition and relationships. He frames mycelium as a planetary "Internet" and intends to bring a biotechnology-driven mushroom product line to market that emphasizes bioavailability and consumer-perceivable effects.
Questions this video answers
Around $90 million to $100 million.
1.6 million square feet of indoor growth space.
About 4,000 milligrams per day.
About 36–37 years old.
Reishi (sleep), cordyceps (energy), turkey tail and chaga (gut health), and lion's mane (cognitive function).
Chapters
2018, 2019. It was, I was, I was on a high. You know, I just created what turned out to be one of the largest cannabis companies in the world.
And then I was like a 60, 70 million dollar. Yeah.
I think their market cap right now is around 90 million or 100 million. And you know, it was, it, it's 1.6 million square feet of indoor growth space growing the highest quality chronic and, you know, THC levels through the roof and all these things where I thought that was cool at the time, you know, I had a big passion for cannabis and plant medicine. And cannabis was the plant medicine that I, that I saw that I could bring to the world. And, you know, my mom had relief from cancer from cannabis and this kind of stuff. So I had good intentions, but it just went way too far for me on that, that scale. And, and what I saw cannabis becoming for me was, was not that healing plant that I was becoming.
What was it?
Well, it was becoming a crutch, it was becoming a distraction. It was becoming this, you know, giving energy to the spirit that I eventually just takes more than she gives. You know, cannabis is a female spirit that just gets in there and sinks her teeth into you and gives you these false illusions that, oh, you could do this and you could do that, but it never really comes true. It's all just a distraction. And I believe it's, it's a bit of a scam. That's why it's, it's getting more and more legalized these days, is because it just takes away men's ambition. Ambition and, and this kind of stuff. And it, you'll very rarely find a high functioning, you know, man, that's really crushing it with cannabis. And if he is, that's great. I, I was there at one point, but it was also a major crush.
You're dancing on the razor's edge, man.
Yeah, you're dancing on the razor.
She's playing a fiddle, trying to guide you and you're trying to balance on a razor.
Totally.
And that's a hard world to live in.
It is.
And be productive.
It is. And there's times where she gives a lot of relief, you know, and that. But it, what was, what's the relief? It was me not facing my emotions or facing the fears, you know, once I face those fears and felt the emotions finally that I was trying to distract myself from with cannabis, that's where the gold was, you know, So I was like, wow, I put that away. So that's when I realized I couldn't be A part of that world anymore. I didn't want to bring that out to the world. And I have no qualms against cannabis. I've just gratitude because it got me so far in the business world, and that's where I learned a lot of this stuff. But that's what I was out doing in la. I was in the cannabis game and CBD game.
And I remember before the COVID Theater, yeah, it was big. Everybody was yelling, oh, multi billion, trillion dollar CBD industry. And it kind of fizzled.
It kind of fizzled. And. And the fizzled.
Why do you think that is?
I believe it fizzled because CBD is great, but it's not very bioavailable. So you have to overdose so high in CBD to actually get the effects.
And.
And that was the code that I realized when I had the. The CBD business was this. I'm. I'm taking like 4,000 milligrams a day of CBD, and I'm, like, barely feeling it. I didn't know if I was more chill or less anxious, so I was like, hey, the next venture that we do, we gotta make sure it's really bioavailable. That's the key, is getting people to feel the effects. No one wants to take something and be like, yeah, I don't know if this is working or not. People want a validation experience when they take something. So that was the idea for the next venture. And then in that time, I was struggling. I was, you know, living the hedonistic lifestyle and partying and drinking and all this stuff, and I was. I was balancing it with wellness. You know, I was meditating, I was working out, I was eating clean. But I just had this brain fog, this fatigue, anxiety that I couldn't really shake. Despite all these modalities, you know, I was, okay, something is up.
Even with the most badass morning routine, you still had brain fog. You still had anxiety. Yeah, I. I know, I know. How many people can relate to that? Yeah, I'm doing all the things, man, but I still have the symptoms, right? That's real. It's real.
And that. So there was something there. There was some code that I hadn't discovered yet. And then one day, I got a call from a shareholder checking in on me, and thank God I took the opportunity to just tell them the truth. Normally, a shareholder calls, they just want to hear everything's good and optimism and.
Revenue'S up, life is great, kids are great. How are you?
Exactly? But this time I was like, you know what? I'm just telling this guy the truth. I'm going to be authentic. And I said, dude, things are not that good. I'm struggling. I have brain fog. I'm eating clean, I'm working out, but I still can't shake this brain fog and fatigue, you know. And he's like, he said three words to me that changed my trajectory. Said, heal your gut. And I said, heal my gut. Tell me more. And he said, listen, I've been studying the gut biome for 20 years. He was a naturopathic doctor. And he's like, if you could understand the science of the relationship between your gut, the sun, the soil, fungi, your brain and beyond, you will upgrade your relationship to nature. And you will shift from a consumer to a co creator in this world. And that line just landed and it blew me away. And I was like, okay. And from that moment on, I started studying gut health and how the sun and fungi related to that. And I got, I've watched fantastic fungi, Paul Stamets. And I was like, wow, there's, there's something to these mushrooms. You know, they, they've been around for billions of years, so they've, they've absorbed a lot of information and consciousness.
They've got the ultimate codes.
They got the codes. They got the codes.
Mushrooms have the codes.
Mushrooms have the codes. They're a superior technology. They're the original Internet of this earth, and they're still going strong. It's the largest organism in this whole world is mycelium.
Wait, why are they the Internet of the world? I've never heard that before.
Well, they have the mycelial network that travels all throughout, under the earth, in the ground, and it communicates to each other. It sends nutrients to each other, it transports water to the trees that need it the most and all this kind of stuff. It's the largest organism in the entire world as mycelium. Period.
Yeah.
And it's been around for eons, literally billions of years. So I was like, hey, there's something to these mushrooms. And this guy's, you know, he knows what he's talking about. I watch fantastic fungi. So I started taking a functional mushroom protocol. I started taking reishi for sleep, cordycep for energy, turkey tail and chaga for gut health and lines made for cognitive function. And this protocol, within a couple weeks, just got rid of my brain fog, got rid of my fatigue, and I was like, holy, there's something to this.
Within a couple weeks.
Couple weeks. Couple weeks. And I was like, wow, there's really something to this. And what I was redoing, was resetting my gut, I was resetting my brain and, you know, creating neurogenesis. And I started pairing this with microdosing psilocybin. Once I saw the. The power of this stuff, and I was like, wow. And I. I radically transformed my health and my relationships got better, I got better. Everything in my life just really improved. And it was just on such a profound level for me. Like, up until that point, I think I was 37 years old, 36 years old. Nothing was like that in my life. I was like, wow, there's really something to these mushrooms. And that's when I decided. I was like, okay, I wanna. I wanna bring mushrooms to the world.
It's almost like when any plant. I'm visualizing. If you go deep in nature, when a plant has to grow through a rock. Have you seen this? Like, if you. Especially if you go to the Sierra Nevadas, like, Mammoth Lakes, that area, these trees at, like, 9,000ft, they've just grown through a fucking boulder, and they're like sticking out of a mountain. How challenging that must have been for these trees to actually, like, see where the sun is, feel it through the rock, pierce itself through the rock. Business is the same way. So your physical. Do you feel like the physical manifestations you were having were because your soul knew you had to leave cannabis, but you just didn't know the bridge between cannabis and functional mushrooms?
Yeah, I had to go through it. It was a rite of passage in itself. You know, I had to go to the despair, through the struggles to rise again, rise above it, through it. And it was only through the mushrooms that I was able to do that. You know, I give to me, it's a wonderful technology. You know, I don't know if there's a spirit in mushrooms or not. I've never experienced some sort of spirit talk to me through mushrooms, but they are communicating. But I feel it's more of, like, a technology, and it's nature's technology. And just tapping into that has created new outlooks in my life, and it's been wonderful. So I want to bring that to the world in fun and innovative ways. You know, a lot of mushroom companies are out there, and God bless them, but a lot of them are pretty granola and, you know, pretty basic. And so we want to be fun, we want to be different, we want to be vibrant, and we want to bring biotechnology into the nature and make them the most effective products so that people can feel them and get back to wellness, so they can start feeling like Their true self and making a difference in life.
It would be great if you and I lived in the forest or I don't know how great it would be on a rainy day or snowy day. Right. We live in, like, these warm houses with our WI fi and all of our, like, look at this studio even. It's, like, cushy. Yeah, Right? We're just so comfortable.
Beautiful.
It's beautiful. And it also. It's like as we move towards the hedonistic lifestyle or the convenience lifestyle, we actually sacrifice in many ways our connection to nature, which, you know, we are nature. Yeah. We're not just from nature. You and I are nature. That's right. That's within us. So I think about, like, the. The disease in a way of modernity. And yes, there's progress, too. And like, you know, don't get me wrong, I love the progress of modernity. I think it's amazing. But progress for progress sake is really just psychopathy. I don't think there's anything intelligent about progress just for progress sake. The technology that you guys have come across and for everybody out there, like, full transparency, like, I'm an official partner with Alex and eons, like, it's rare because I really, really believe in their company. So everything that I'm saying, you can go right now. Joshtrend.comeons you can do the research for yourself.
Right.
I'm not here to tell you what to do. I'm just here to show you some amazing information that I think will move you. And so this product that you have and the technology, shout out to Paul Check. I actually introduced you to Paul Check. And he's using your technology, your specific biotechnology in his garden.
Right.
Which is amazing. Down at the Rainbow Ranch. He's in his garden.
Yeah.
And this is what's going to be in the products, in the legal, by the way, 100% legal microdosing that we'll talk about. There's so much good that you're producing in the world. How did this even come to be where you found this technology? And then how is this going to work into the products? Because honestly, man, I feel like it really just pulls you in a different category of sublinguals. Right, right. Sublinguals. We lose 50% or more. Yeah, There's a lot of studies about that. So we'll talk about that later too. How we actually get the plants into our body and not waste them. But that's a big one. So how did that even come to pass? Because that's a really big I think, missing piece right now in the functional mushroom space, where people are thinking they're doing well, and maybe they are, but they're not really getting everything they're paying for. You guys have found a way to crack the code. Yeah, that's our. That's our word for this podcast. The code.
Yes.
How did you crack the code on that? Hey, if you love that clip you just saw, watch the full video. That clip was just a taste, just a piece. The tip of the freaking iceberg of what you just witnessed and what you just felt. Click the link on this screen. Subscribe to the podcast. Click the link on this screen. If you're vibrating, if you're resonating, if you feel what I'm putting down.
